Was Aseem Trivedi right or wrong?

There was so much fuss in Indian electronic and print media as well as on social networking sites about the arrest of Aseem Trivedi and the reasons behind his arrest. He published some cartoons as a part of the anti-corruption movement which many people didn't like and he was arrested in Mumbai on 9 September 2012 on charges of sedition. He is also facing very serious allegations of insulting the national emblem, Parliament, national flag, and constitution through his cartoons. Let's first see what are these cartoons, I am reproducing them below.

Cartoons are also artistic representations like any other art, most cartoonists try to comment on particular political or social situations through his/her cartoons. These cartoons are trying to covey some message that something is wrong with the current political and bureaucratic system of our country. I agree that they are very explicit and full of anger, but nowhere do I see the criminal intent of artist or his intention to insult the nation or its emblems. No one objected to why there is only Mother India, not Father India (gender bias). I know it's a silly question but so are the ones who say that these cartoons insult India or anything else. They are just an artist's ways of expressing their feelings. In India, people are over-sensitive about their religion, caste, or so-called monuments of honor like the parliament, national flag, temples, and historical figures. The list is too long and you never know what can become a reason to hurt people's feelings and trigger nationwide protests or even a riot.

As Indians we project ourselves as a very tolerant and broadminded society but this is not true. What we see is very intolerant people and political outfits who are ready to kill each other over very minor differences of opinion and I wonder as Indians do we even think about this paradox in our behavior or not. What Aseem's cartoons are doing here is trying to tell some message and this cartoon controversy has resulted in such a turn of events that this message of the anti-corruption movement or seriousness of corruption got totally sidelined and totally unrelated issue about press freedom and respecting national symbols dominated the discussions. I am sure government would love this.

In India, we have so many restrictions on the use of flags, and national symbols because we can insult them in so many ways. In many developed countries where people are as patriotic as Indians and love their country, the flag, and other symbols as much as we Indians, it is allowed to print the flag on almost everything (starting from slippers to bikinis) but in India one can't do it. We need to look into this issue more seriously. For anything we want to give respect, we make it sacred and sacred things no one can touch, comment on, or criticize, let it be any book, monument, emblem, flag, or person. Let people express their love for their nation, flag, or symbols the way they like. If these symbols are just made to stand in a showcase or for display books then how will they generate patriotism in people? I think everyone should be free to use them. 

According to me, Aseem Trivedi didn't do anything wrong, he was within his limits when he drew these cartoons and his intention was to spread some social message and not to hurt or insult anyone. We should learn to listen to criticisms directed toward our nation or leaders or religion or its gods, there is no shame or harm in listening to others' points of view. Many times these things make us realize us our own shortcomings or mistakes and if we shut others up just because they are saying or showing something unpleasant that means we don't have courage to face criticism and this also means that we are not willing to learn from our mistakes. I hope that incidents like this will never happen in the future and we will have a truly tolerant and democratic society in India and all over the world.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic. 

(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)